In 2006 I moved to Qatar and things are not what many people in North America would expect - it is not like how the Middle East is portrayed in the media. I'm also a fan of skepticism and science so wondered how this works here in Qatar. Since I'm here for a while I figured I'd use the time to get to know this country better and with this blog you can learn along with me. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - So what posts have been popular recently . . .

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Arabic Calendar

A while ago I was given an Arabic desk calendar. Take a look at it and see if you can find any differences.

Did you notice that the days of the week are right-to-left rather than left-to-right? It definitely took me a while to notice that. In some ways I'm not surprised since the Arabic language is read right-to-left this is the first time ever seen that on a calendar. Numbers in Arabic are still read left-to-right, like you would in English, so I think most calendars use left-to-right to be in sync with the numbers.

Speaking of numbers, another difference is that the Arabic numbers are counting the lunar calendar, so the Arabic numbers are not the same as the Latin ones, for example the Arabic number in January 3rd is 12, not 3. The lunar month changes at January 21st.

That’s all I wanted to point out. I’m still lying at home convalescing when I noticed the calendar. Took me three weeks to notice the differences.